LEWISTON — The Maine Music Society’s Androscoggin Chorale will present a celebration of French Christmas carols in “A Heritage Christmas” at the Franco Center Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14-15.

John Corrie, artistic director, said the concert also features the first appearance of the Maine Music Society Chamber Singers. This new performance group of 20 voices is drawn from the full 60-voice Androscoggin Chorale founded in 1972.
The program opens with “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” a French melody from the 15th century adapted and arranged by Paul Leddington Wright. Although the hymn is centuries old, the arrangement chosen by Corrie has a contemporary flavor. Wright, a noted conductor, composer, organist and arranger in England, shares a life-long love for sacred and classical music with a passion for musical theatre and opera. He was musical director for the first UK tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Next is “Noel Nouvelet,” a traditional French carol arranged by John Rutter, followed by four pieces for the Advent season by Francis Poulenc, who composed in the early to mid-1900s and was a member of Jean Cocteau’s “Les Six,” a loose-knit group of French and French-Swiss composers.
The motets by Poulenc, sung in Latin, are “O magnum mysterium,” “Quem vidistis pastores dicite,” “Videntes stellam,” and “Hodie Christus natus est.”
French-Canadian and native American heritage blends in “The Huron Carol,” (‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime) in an adaptation by Canadian arranger Eleanor Daley. This Christmas hymn is said to have been written probably in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada.
The program continues with Gilbert Patenaude’s arrangement of “Notre divin Maitre.” According to online sources, this lovely French-Canadian carol was originally a drinking song, but since the mid-1700s it has been associated in Canada (mostly in Quebec) with a religious Christmas text. The arrangement by Patenaude features strong contrasts of dynamics and mood.
Other traditional French carols will be “Il est ne le divin enfant” arranged by John Rutter and “Quelle est cette odeur agreable?” arranged by David Willcocks. Carl Steidel is soloist.
Concluding the first half of the program are Adolphe Adam’s “O Holy Night” and “Deck the Hall,” the traditional Welsh Carol adapted and arranged by Kirby Shaw.
The Maine Music Society Chamber Singers will perform “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In,” the English Carol arranged by David Willcocks, and Mozart’s “Dona nobis pacem.”
The full Androscoggin Chorale will perform the Bob Chilcott arrangements of eight pieces, “On Christmas Night.”
“A Heritage Christmas” concludes with “Here We Come a-Wassailing” (Ryan O’Connell arrangement) and several Christmas carols with audience participation.
Accompanist for the concert is Bridget Convey.
The first performance of “A Heritage Christmas” by the Androscoggin Chorale is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Franco Center, Cedar and Oxford Streets, Lewiston. The second concert is at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at the same location.
Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $9 for students, and children under 12 are free when accompanied by an adult. For tickets, call L/A Arts at 782-7228 or go online to www.mainemusicsociety.org.

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